I own one. I've had mine since last November. I love it. I love it in large part because when I'm working on it, I -can't- read email, browse HN, read blogs, check on a server. The only thing I can do is put thoughts to words and diagrams.
What you want is a tablet, maybe something from Amazon. The ReMarkable is intended for a different audience, people who remember what it's like to be undistracted and want that again.
I think it would need to come down in price significantly for it to be just what you want it to be.
My notes on this are organized into folders. When I'm at a SAR meeting, I tap "SAR", and there's everything from the last meeting and training notes and anything else I might want to reference.
When I'm at work, I tap "[Job]", and there's the graphs, notes, and complex as hell SQL and database layouts and everything else I've been working on lately.
I don't have to scribble out sentences from pen and paper, instead I can neatly erase them from the screen and rewrite them. It has become my tool of choice for first draft, second draft, third draft, and final draft writing to people I care to write to.
When I'm working out a flow chart or application logic or something else that I'm struggling to get my head around and ordinarily would run to paper for, I use this instead, because when I need to reorganize different bits I can just draw a circle around them and drag them elsewhere on the screen.
And, after doing all of this, I can back all of that up to my laptop.
Go ahead and do that with your pad of actual paper, I'll wait while you find a scanner and fight to get the stupid paper feeder to work.
If the thought of being unplugged and focused on a single thing doesn't exhilarate you, if it terrifies you, that's fine, this isn't the device to you. I'm not going to cheer it on to those folks; frankly, at this point, I hope ReMarkable is able to avoid that audience, because they're going to ask for all the wrong things.
But I don't spend a lot of money and when I first saw this thing I immediately wanted it because it's exactly what I've been wishing for, for a long time now. Ever since the Newton, at least. It's valuable at that price to me and to a lot of other people.
So GP was right, this is competing with iPad Pro's and actual paper.
It's an extension of the same thing that defines the iPad Pro line vs the Surface line: the Surface line is a full-on general-purpose PC capable of running a lot of stuff the iPad simply doesn't do, but I'd rather take notes on the iPad. (My iPad replaced my Surface Pro.)
Specialized tools appeal to me. Cost doesn't really matter that much for professional tools - I've burned through a lot of laptops, monitors, keyboards, and smart devices over the years - though I'd like to see one in person or wait for a v2.
> For me it’s because the reMarkable tablet’s writing surface is a night and day experience to writing on the smooth glass of an iPad.
This, from the review, is the entire appeal. Writing on an iPad is odd and awkward still. The less friction (heh) in the process, the more I'll actually take good notes. Sure, it would be better if I was so perfectly disciplined I could just use a convertible laptop for everything, and size/weight/aesthetic/experience factors were irrelevant, but... I'm not.
I hear that a lot of iPad artists put a non-glass screen protector on the iPad (I forget the material, just the standard plastic-y material) and it adds enough friction to the Apple Pencil that it’s a bit more comfortable writing. Have you tried adding a non-glass screen protector and seeing if it makes a difference in the experience?
"The ReMarkable is intended for a different audience, people who remember what it's like to be undistracted and want that again."